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The season's best little ditties

By Pete McQuaid, pmcquaid@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/06/2012 09:20:30 AM EST

These days, you know you're an established artist when you release a Christmas album -- which is why we are overwhelmed with so much mediocre holiday music. If you stick to these songs, you'll at least be able to make it to the week of Christmas without gouging out your ears.

Best standards

"The Christmas Song" -- Nat King Cole

"Sleigh Ride" -- Ella Fitzgerald

"Winter Wonderland" -- Aretha Franklin

"Blue Christmas" -- Elvis Presley

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" -- Brenda Lee

These are the ones that have been around for 50 years and will still be played 100 years from now. The best is Fitzgerald's swinging "Sleigh Ride," but Aretha keeps up with a soaring rendition of "Winter Wonderland," and Elvis is sufficiently depressed for "Blue Christmas." And nobody can forget Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song," though the original writer, "The Velvet Fog" Mel Torme, doesn't do a bad job himself.

Most people know Trans-Siberian Orchestra for their bombastic "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)," but the real standout on their awesome debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories is the "O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night" medley, which has the best guitar work on the album. The Boss brings the E Street sound to Christmas with these two hits, and when are churches going to wise up and start playing Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" on Christmas Eve?

Best songs that won't become standards but should still be bumped

"Step into Christmas" -- Elton John

"All I Want for Christmas is You" -- Mariah Carey

"The Chipmunk Song" -- Alvin and the Chipmunks

"Last Christmas" -- Wham!

"Christmas in Harlem" -- Kanye West

"Step Into Christmas" and "The Chipmunk Song" are close to classic status, but neither is a very coverable song (don't you dare try to cover Elton John). If music has taught me anything, it's this: Wham! makes jams. So does Kanye, which is why his new song belongs on this list, alongside the greatest Christmas song ever, "All I Want for Christmas is You." Yep, that's right.

and a few albums...

Most Unintentionally Funny: This Christmas -- John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

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